The decision to declare Chapecoense winners of this year's Sudamerica was made by CONMEBOL on Monday evening.

On November 28, 2016, LaMia Airlines Flight 2933 carrying 77 people including the staff and players from Chapecoense crashed as it approached Medellín, Colombia.

Seventy one people died (including 21 journalists and almost the entire first team and managerial staff) and six survived.

The surviving players were left-back Alan Ruschel, bac-kup goalkeeper Follmann (who had one of his legs amputated due to his injuries), and center-back Neto. Goalkeeper Danilo initially survived the crash, but later died before arriving to the hospital.

Following the crash, Atlético Nacional made a request to the governing body of the competition that Chapecoense be awarded the trophy.